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Civil rights music: The sound of a movement toward equality

Local folk musician played songs that inspired freedom in honor of Martin Luther King Jr. Day

By Shane Dunlap

sdunlap@eveningsun.com

@shanedunlap on Twitter

Posted:
01/20/2014 02:51:49 PM EST

Orrtanna resident and folk musician Tom Jolin performs songs from the civil rights movement on Sunday at St. James Lutheran Church in honor of Martin Luther King Jr. Day. (Shane Dunlap - The Evening Sun)

Members of St. James Lutheran Church in Gettysburg hold hands during the singing of "We Shall Overcome" on Sunday as local folk musician Tom Jolin performs. The small group gathered in honor of Martin Luther King Day and talked about the importance of folk music in the civil rights movement. (Shane Dunlap - The Evening Sun)

A tempo from the banjo, a melody on an accordion and a lament on the dulcimer create a multi-cultural melody that inspired traditional American folk music.

It was those three instruments, from Africa, Germany and the Middle East, that could be heard Sunday morning as about 25 members of St. James Lutheran Church in Gettysburg filled a small classroom to listen to local folk musician Tom Jolin play in honor of Martin Luther King Jr. Day.

Most of those in attendance could recall the hot August day in 1963 when the civil rights leader shared his famous speech from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial. They also remembered how music played a role in his message to the world.

"Music was vital to the civil liberties of the time," Jolin said to the group between songs.

Some of the pieces he played were directly influenced by one another. A traditional African-American spiritual folk song, "No More Auction Block for Me," could be linked to "We Shall Overcome" by African-American composer Charles Albert Tindley, he said.

"'No More Auction Block' to me is a song bemoaning the fact that many had no opportunities," Jolin said. "But it was making a statement that someday that would end."

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And a song famous for inspiring freedom, "We Shall Overcome" helped fuel the civil rights movement and all movements for equality since then, he said.

The group sang in harmony with Jolin on other well-known songs associated with civil liberties like "This Land is Your Land" by Woody Guthrie and "This Little Light of Mine" by Harry Dixon Leos.

Jolin, who has been a musician since high school, was in college at the University of Wisconsin at the height of the civil rights movement.

Tom Jolin performs on a fretted dulcimer on Sunday at St. James Lutheran Church in Gettysburg. The fretted dulcimer is an instrument widely associated with traditional American folk music. (Shane Dunlap - The Evening Sun)

"I remember listening to the AM radio and hearing horrible atrocity stories about the lack of equality for African Americans," Jolin said after his performance. "As a youth you think, 'Is that the way life is?'

"So I got involved, was in student government, and tried to make a difference. This whole room today was filled with people who tried to make the world a little better."

Jolin is a community volunteer in Adams County and was a recipient of the Lifetime of Peacemaking Award last year by the Gettysburg Interfaith Center for Peace and Justice.

Jolin wasn't in Washington in 1963 for Martin Luther King Jr.'s speech, but he made sure to save the date. He traveled to the National Mall last year for the 50th anniversary of the speech. Presidents Jimmy Carter, Bill Clinton and Barack Obama attended the event in honor of King's famous dream.

"There was just such harmony," he said of the atmosphere of the historic moment.